Spencer Abraham Quotations

If you had a national grid with one operator, you had twenty or even a hundred operators, if you don't have the ability to compel people to observe high standards of conduct, then you run a greater risk.

I always wondered what hearing one's own obituary might sound like, and I sort of feel like I may have just heard part of it at least.

The ideal ratio is one computer to every five students; we are nowhere close to that percentage in a lot of schools in America.

Sometimes we pay too much attention in Washington to public relations, as opposed to the substance.

The demand for electricity to have a strong, growing economy is too great to be simply offset by more conservation.

Scholars and historians have dubbed the last 100 years the American Century, and I think there can be little doubt that the Council on Foreign Relations helped to make it so.

The issues and challenges surrounding nuclear non-proliferation are continuously evolving. Theyve changed dramatically at several junctures in recent memory.

There was a Republican majority of the Senate, and it tempered the nature of the nominations being made.

The federal government neither has the power to site transmission lines, nor do we build them. That's done, as people know, in their own communities. The siting decisions and the permitting is done at the local level, or by state governments if it's interstate in nature. And federal government - this is one area we have no authority.

Thousands across America are glued to their web cast to hear this. And actually, I've never met one human being who said that they had seen one of those.

Well, the responsibility for maintaining a reliable transmission grid is one that's shared by an awful lot of players who have a role in the grid: Companies that either generate and transmit energy or just play the role of being the transmission systems or monitoring them.

Putting the budget ahead of the policy is the wrong way to do it. It's too often the way it's done in Washington.

World energy supplies are more than adequate to compensate for any disruption, ... The response by OPEC and major producers like Saudi Arabia, and if needed, our large strategic stockpiles, will ensure that our economy will have the ample supply of energy it needs.

We want fewer 'Washington knows best' solutions and more people at the local level making education decisions for America's children,

Many significant Energy Department issues face us at this time, ranging from the adequacy of supply, to affordability, to the development of new technologies, to the issue of security at our facilities and more, ... I look forward to helping the president-elect effectively address these challenges in the days ahead.

meeting our responsibilities as good stewards for the land, the air and the water.

Ninety-five of the 105 recommendations are ones that the executive branch can implement, and we have been implementing them, ... We've done the things we can do as an executive branch. Now we have to finish the job at the Congress.

If we face an exceptionally cold winter, it could put a strain on our capabilities and we might face new price hikes,

I have considered whether sound science supports the determination that the Yucca Mountain site is scientifically and technically suitable for the development of a repository, ... I am convinced that it does.

But we will need more funds, and heightened international cooperation, to finish the job. ... We hope there will be universal participation in this. By not only returning fuel from our own country (but also Russia's), we hope to set an example others will follow.

I have authorized these negotiations in response to the physical disruption of offshore oil production and imports in the Gulf Region caused by Hurricane Ivan's destruction,

Our national energy policy will stress the need to diversify America's energy supply,

It has become clear that an even more comprehensive and urgently focused effort is needed to respond to emerging and evolving threats. ... Moreover, we are prepared to spend the resources necessary to guarantee success,

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, followed just a few years later by East Germany's Soviet parent state, it appeared that after a half-century of hair-trigger tension, America's major security fears would ease.

Well, I think we should look at all federal lands and determine where, in an environmentally sensitive fashion, we can produce more energy and then consider on a case-by-case basis what makes sense, ... At end of the day, I think that we can balance the environment and our energy needs.

We have been very concerned over the level of storage, but it has been going better over the last two months. The problem has been mainly on the gas side,

We do have a lot of energy security issues that go to the critical energy infrastructure and the needs that we have in order to make sure we can take certain kinds of steps that are required now that have to be acted on, ... And I would be very disappointed if they couldn't get acted on in the balance of the session so I am hopeful we can find a way.

We will do this by the securing, removing, relocating or disposing of these materials and equipment - whatever the most appropriate circumstance may be - as quickly and expeditiously as possible,

To the extent we make ourselves more dependent on imports, we put ourselves a little under the gun, ... Hopefully the Senate will take note of Iraq's decision today and act accordingly.

There is overwhelming unanimity that we must act in this fashion if we are to keep our economy strong.

And we intend to do it not just through more supply, but also by balancing supply with conservation, with traditional energy sources against renewable and new sources,

I've spent five years in the Senate, and we haven't had that kind of leadership in the White House, ... We've had poll-taking and not enough action.

pushing to import more than 200,000 foreign workers a year to take good American jobs.

This confirmation is also a victory for the nominee, President Bush, and, most of all, the U.S. Senate. Finally, it is a victory for the U.S. Supreme Court which will be led into the 21st century by a brilliant, principled Chief Justice.

They don't like me because I believe legal immigration should not be abolished,

The reserve is not there to simply try and change prices,

It will focus on conservation as well as production.

It will leapfrog the myths that stifle change, ... rejecting the notion that there is no middle ground between environmental protection regardless of the cost and energy exploration regardless of the impact.

Instead of waiting until the shortages get so acute that prices go through the ceiling and people across America confront blackouts and other shortage-inspired problems, let's start on it now with the president's comprehensive plan and we can avoid those difficulties,

I don't think anybody should think we're out of the woods yet,

The information released today will only confirm that it was indeed a balanced plan that not only sought but included all viewpoints, ... It assures the American people that it was an open and appropriate process.

By balancing the needs of families and employers, and by extending a safe haven to those fleeing persecution, our immigration policy serves its historic purpose. Freedom and opportunity is the cornerstone of American society, and immigrants continue to embody that freedom.